Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene
At the Door of Simon the Pharisee
MARY MAGDALENE
At the Door of Simon the Pharisee

Seduction dialogue

Lines 1-8 are a male speaker trying to lure Mary into a brothel or party. The octave is entirely his voice—notice the imperative verbs and physical persuasion.

"WHY wilt thou cast the roses from thine hair?
Nay, be thou all a rose,—wreath, lips, and cheek.
Nay, not this house,—that banquet-house we seek;
See how they kiss and enter; come thou there.
This delicate day of love we two will share
Till at our ear love's whispering night shall speak.
What, sweet one,—hold'st thou still the foolish freak?
Nay, when I kiss thy feet they 'll leave the stair."
"Oh loose me! Seest thou not my Bridegroom's face

Petrarchan turn

The sestet switches to Mary's voice at the volta. Her 'Oh loose me!' breaks the seducer's rhythm—she's been silent, now she speaks.

That draws me to Him? For His feet my kiss,
My hair, my tears He craves to-day:—and oh!
What words can tell what other day and place

Prophetic vision

Mary foresees the crucifixion ('blood-stained feet'). This moment happens before Jesus's death—she sees what's coming and chooses it anyway.

Shall see me clasp those blood-stained feet of His?
He needs me, calls me, loves me: let me go!"
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Dramatic Moment

CONTEXT The title references Luke 7:36-50, where Mary Magdalene anoints Jesus's feet at a Pharisee's dinner party. She's a known prostitute; the Pharisees are scandalized. Rossetti dramatizes the moment just before she enters Simon's house.

The poem's structure mirrors the moral choice. The octave is the seducer's voice—likely a client or pimp—using erotic language to keep Mary in her old life. Notice the physical imagery: roses, lips, cheek, kiss. He's literally blocking her path ('they'll leave the stair' means 'stop climbing these steps'). The sestet is Mary's rejection, but Rossetti makes it a love poem too—she's leaving one lover for another.

The Bridegroom metaphor comes from mystical Christianity (Christ as the soul's spouse), but Rossetti sexualizes it deliberately. Mary uses the same language of desire: 'draws me,' 'craves,' 'needs me, calls me, loves me.' She's not renouncing passion—she's redirecting it. The poem makes conversion feel like falling in love.

Pre-Raphaelite Magdalene

Rossetti painted this scene multiple times—he was obsessed with reformed prostitutes. CONTEXT His model was likely Fanny Cornforth, his mistress, or he was thinking of the Magdalene penitentiaries where 'fallen women' were rehabilitated. The Pre-Raphaelites romanticized these women; Victorian society institutionalized them.

The prophetic vision in line 13 is Rossetti's addition to the biblical story. Mary sees the crucifixion before it happens ('what other day and place')—her conversion isn't just moral, it's mystical. She knows she's choosing suffering ('blood-stained feet') and chooses it anyway. This makes her more than a repentant sinner; she's a prophet and a willing participant in the Passion.

Notice the verb 'needs' in the final line. Jesus needs her. This reverses the usual power dynamic—God requiring human love, not just offering it. It's theologically radical and emotionally shrewd: Mary's conversion feels mutual, not submissive.